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JACKSONVILLE (FBC)-Paul Bobbitt, who served as director of the Church Music Department from 1970-1993, died Dec. 14, at 1 p.m. in Asheville, N.C. from Parkinson’s Disease. He was 83.

STUART (FBW)-Lynda Lee Daniels, 63, a missionary to South America for 28 years with the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, died Dec. 15 at Treasure Coast Hospice in Stuart. A member of First Baptist Church of Palm Beach Gardens, she is survived by her husband of 41 years, David Daniels, pastor of the church.

Is it possible a conservative, Southern Baptist pastor could correctly preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ for years but fail to truly practice the Gospel in his daily life? This apparently nonsensical possibility is not only true in the life of one pastor; it’s a too-common experience of many pastors and other evangelical Christians.

As we come to the end of the year, I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts on several subjects.

First of all, thank you for praying for us during and following Nancy’s heart attack Sept.18, 2011. She is doing so much better as a result of your prayers and the giftedness of the doctors who treated her. Your cards, letters, calls and gifts have all been received with love and appreciation. Florida Baptists are the finest people on planet Earth. We are grateful to be part of this great Convention. May the good things of grace continue in your lives.

Dave Says is a column featuring the financial advice of nationally syndicated radio host Dave Ramsey, the Dave Says column is filled with timely, relevant questions and answers taken from actual calls on Ramsey's radio program, The Dave Ramsey Show.

We need to make one thing clear in regard to our topic. If you are not pure now, you cannot find it at the end of the journey, myriads of tear jerking TV programs not withstanding. The best the impure can grasp is forgiveness coming from trusting Jesus as one’s personal Savior. So, a more fruitful topic might be, how to maintain purity in a sensual culture. The world’s mode of living eats away at the principles the Bible sets for us. Promiscuous sex, casual social drinking, and dysfunctional families have become the norm on TV, not the exception. All is not lost, however, because hope is more powerful than despair, and light always cancels darkness. So, let the game begin.

When we were preparing to move to Graceville for me to teach at Baptist Bible Institute, now the Baptist College of Florida, we wanted to build our own house. I decided to upgrade my hand saws in favor of an electric saw. As the years passed, my electric saw balked, refusing to start. I took it to a repair shop. The technician agreed he could repair it but added that he would not recommend it. He directed me to a discount store where I could buy a new saw cheaper than having the old one repaired. Welcome to the era of planned obsolescence. The manufacturers don’t want us to pass tools along to the next generation. Tell the kids to buy a new one. Unfortunately, the throw away generation has now applied the principle across the board, including stable families and even human lives. The unborn are commonly sacrificed for the sake of convenience or some other imagined need. But what says the Bible? Psalm 139 is God’s answer.

When it comes to Tim Tebow, what’s not to like? Oh, he has his detractors, especially those claiming offense over his overt religious posturing following a touchdown. As Frank Bruni recently wrote in the New York Times, Tebow’s religious genuflecting, his dropping to one knee in the precise way he does, doesn’t go over so well with him and many other football enthusiasts. According to Bruni, Tebow’s Tebowing is “a sort of self-righteous bait-and-switch,” which subjects football fans who “come for scrimmages” to unwanted “scriptures.”

As I explained the Gospel to a Japanese exchange student, I knew that the Gospel story intrigued him. When I concluded he said, “I find much I like about Christianity; however, I cannot accept the virgin birth of Jesus.” I responded, “If one believes that God created life in the beginning, then the biblical teachings regarding the virgin birth are not difficult to accept.”

We hear a lot about orphans these days. Pictures of Angelina Jolie jostling an African child on her hip jump out on the pages of People magazine. We learn about the tens of thousands of abandoned Chinese orphans waiting for someone to adopt them.

GRACEVILLE (BCF)—Although they occur like clockwork every semester, graduations at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville are welcomed with jubilation and excitement from each graduating class. December 9 was no different as degrees were conferred on 50 seniors in the assembly center.

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—Three employees with a combined service of more than 75 years retired from the Florida Baptist Convention staff during 2011.